2018 Recreational Black Sea Bass Tuesday, May 8, 2018 NYS Marine Resource Advisory Council

ASMFC Addendum 30 Management Board voted on February 8 to approve Add. 30: Regional management Allocations More consistent regulations within a region

ASMFC Addendum 30 (continued) Allocations voted on in February left the northern region with a 12% reduction NY-MA appealed the decision, which would have resulted in a 6% regional reduction for the northern states March 27 public meeting in response to Add. 30: Public opinion did not support a 12% reduction or an appeal for a 6% reduction

ASMFC Addendum 30 (continued) Marine Resources worked with ASMFC staff to develop an alternative 0% reduction proposal ASMFC met on May 3 to consider appeal and the alternative proposal ASMFC approved the alternative proposal for a ~0% reduction

2018 NY Rec Black Sea Bass Scenarios 2017: 3 fish 6/27-8/31, 8 fish 9/1-10/31, 10 fish 11/1-12/31 For 2018: Original Add. 30 (-12%): 3 fish 7/3-8/31, 5 fish 9/1-12/31 Appeal (-6%): 3 fish 6/29-8/31, 7 fish 9/1-12/31 Alternative Proposal (+2%): 3 fish 6/23-8/31, 7 fish 9/1-12/31

Proposed Federal Rules 12.5” minimum size, 15 fish possession limit, open season May 15-December 31 Fall closure has been removed If ASMFC had not been able to reach agreement on the alternative proposal, NMFS would have imposed non-preferred coast-wide measures: 14” minimum size, 5 fish, open season May 15-September 15

Table from the ASMFC 2018 Spring Meeting Summary (page 25)

Next Steps at ASMFC “address the changes in black sea bass abundance and distribution by initiating management actions to consider management based on the distribution of the resource along with any other options recommended by the Management Board. The Policy Board requests a new action to address the 2019 recreational fishery.” And ”task the plan development team to develop a white paper that would identify the actions of considering the changes in the black sea bass abundance for future commercial and recreational management actions.“